Glee’s Amber Riley Refused to Film ‘Full-Blown Scene’ Where Mercedes Had Sex With Sam
Amber Riley revealed that she put her foot down when Glee writers crafted a sex scene for her character Mercedes Jones.
“There was supposed to be an episode where she lost her virginity to Sam [Chord Overstreet] and I told [executive producer] Brad [Falchuk], ‘Absolutely not,” Riley, 38, revealed during the Thursday, February 29, episode of “And That’s What You REALLY Missed” podcast.
“He gave me the blue pages [where it] was written and I said, ‘No,” she added of the surprising storyline.
Riley’s former costars Jenna Ushkowitz and Kevin McHale, who are the hosts of the Glee recap podcast, laughed in shock as they heard the behind-the-scenes scoop that they had no idea went down during the time.
‘Glee’ Cast’s Dating Histories Through the Years: Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison and More
“[Brad] said, ‘OK, well what if instead of…’ because it was like a full-blown scene that I said, ‘I’m not doing it.’ He said, ‘Well, what if we just you know, have you guys hold hands and walk into the room and then like close the door?’”
Riley remembered not being impressed by the alternative angle pitched to her, saying she shot down that idea too. “I was like, ‘No.”
McHale, 35, praised Riley for her actions at the time, saying, “Amazing. Respect.”
Riley continued to detail the storyline’s situation further, explaining that it was something she couldn’t get behind.
“I said, ‘I’m not doing it. I don’t ever tell you guys ‘no.’ I don’t fight about anything… But, this?!?’”
The actress went on to mention there were several reasons why she wasn’t a fan of that particular direction the show wanted her character to go in.
“It just would have been so awkward, and I feel like it would have read awkward,” she stated. “I also just feel like, yeah, it wasn’t what my character would have done. I just didn’t feel that way.”
On season 5 of Glee, Mercedes had declared that she wasn’t ready to have sex and wanted to wait for marriage, and Riley felt her character “should stick to her guns.”
The hosts applauded her and mentioned how it’s important to pick your battles when working on sets, to which Riley replied, “I picked it.”
Despite that one scenario, Riley said looking back now, she loved acting alongside Overstreet, now 35, and she has no other bad memories when it came to the sitcom’s script.
“Chord [was] sweet,” she opened up. “He’s just so sweet. It was very much so like his character. He’s like boy Bambi.”
‘Glee’ Cast: Where Are They Now?
However, the actress did confess that she was nervous at first to be in an onscreen relationship with Overstreet.
“It was my first relationship on TV,” she clarified. “I was always the kind of person who in general was very career-focused and driven. I didn’t date a lot in general, so, like, living that out on television was awkward. It was so awkward at first, and then you don’t know what the other person is thinking and what they feel. And, like, also being like a bigger girl on television, you’re not necessarily always shown in the best light in relationships, and you’re like, ‘Where’s this going to go?’ So we did end up having to have those kind of conversations of where the story was going to go because, you know, with our characters, we were very sensitive but protective about those characters because [they] mean so much to so many people. So you wanna kind of protect that, and I think they did an excellent job. I think they did a really great job [with] even showing high school relationships [because] they’re not that deep. They are very surface-level, you know what I’m saying? People don’t really stay together after high school, and they become different people and they grow and all of those things.”
Glee first premiered on Fox in 2009 and went on to air until 2015. Riley appeared on the series as a main cast member for every season, except season 5, where she was a guest star.
